Roll over to preview

Following the unveiling in Geneva at the beginning of March of what will be Jaguar’s most expensive production model since the XJ220 – the £97,000 XKR-S – at the end of the month came more details of what is likely to be the most affordable Jaguar in the marque’s 2012 Model Year line-up: the 2.2-litre diesel XF. Rumours about the arrival of this engine in a Jaguar have been doing the rounds for some time now but, following global brand director Adrian Hallmark’s confi rmation in Geneva that it was on the way, more facts have been made available ahead of update details on the entire XF range. You can read the full story on page six, but the nub of the matter is that the four-cylinder turbo diesel engine that will be available to order in the XF from late April will provide go enough for it to reach 60mph in eight seconds and push on to a top speed of 140mph, but with a combined fuel economy fi gure of 52.3mpg. True, those performance fi gures may not make for as sexy reading as the XKR-S’s stats, but the frugality of the new model will prove attractive to a great many buyers in what are increasingly expensive times for the motorist. In fact, Jaguar predicts that the 2.2-litre model will make up 60 per cent of all XF sales. Given that in the UK 12,687 XFs were sold in 2010, and even considering that some potential future buyers who may well have plumped for a 3.0-litre diesel could now go for the smaller engined model, it’s likely the 2.2 XF will attract a whole new group of economy conscious customers to Jaguar and away from rivals’ models such as BMW’s 520d. Winning them over can only be a good thing. It’ll be interesting too, of course, to see what aesthetic changes are coming for the XF. As you’ll have no doubt already realised, the unusual colour scheme worn by the example in our photographs is not a new Yin-Yang inspired paint option, but camouflage covering front and rear end modifications.